Monthly Archives: December, 2011
Bright & Early: Snrizzle Edition
Good morning, Nashville. So how about that snow? We slept through most of the alleged snowflakes, but we’ll take your word (and tweets!) on it. A few lucky kids in southwest Middle Tennessee got out of school today, but the rest of us are just bracing for some “lingering drizzle”! Doesn’t that sound fun? In other news:
- Twinkle, twinkle. Governor Haslam lit the Capitol Christmas tree last night, and it’s the first year we can remember without some sort of tree drama. Remember last year when we just couldn’t find a tree? Or the year before when the tree had an unfortunate incident with some wind? Our fingers are crossed for a safe and drama-free Christmas tree this year.
- We are the 10%. A US Department of Labor report shows that only 10% of the Tennesseans collecting unemployment benefits are actually turning in documentation that they are seeking work each week.
- Power plants for sale. TVA will begin selling off power plants as part of a plan to avoid hitting its $30 billion debt ceiling. They plan to sell the plants, then lease them from the new owners. The first plant to hit the auction block is a new natural gas plant in East Tennessee.
- Bits & pieces. The Preds won 2-1 against the Oilers last night, ending a 4-game losing streak … The Titans hope that this past Sunday’s performance means good things ahead for them … Dave & Busters at Opry Mills is back in business … Tennessee has issued over 6,500 photo IDs for voting … The Mt Juliet Meals on Wheels program joins a growing list of local charities in desperate need of donations … Bell Road at Percy Priest Dam will reopen on Thursday after being closed since August … Occupy Nashville just received a $1,045 security bill from the state.
Photo by Haider Nakkash.
Good morning, Nashville. So how about that snow? We slept through most of the alleged snowflakes, but we’ll take your word (and tweets!) on it. A few lucky kids in southwest Middle Tennessee got out of school today, but the rest of us are just bracing for some “lingering drizzle”! Doesn’t that sound fun? In [...]
Bright & Early: Who Lives In Nashville Edition
Good morning, Nashville. You may have noticed that the temperature has dropped just slightly from the balmy 65-degree Thanksgiving we enjoyed just a few days ago. In fact, if you’re in or around Waverly or Centerville, you may have even spotted some snow this morning. The chilly rain is just going to keep coming, and we may see some snow/slush accumulation overnight in Nashville as temperatures keep dropping. Bundle up!
- Sports report. The Titans won against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home yesterday, 23-17. The Preds were not so lucky on Saturday night, falling to the Red Wings 4-1.
- Occupy update. Occupy Nashville protesters spent a brief few minutes on Black Friday in the Green Hills mall, singing songs about buying nothing (to the tune of “Jingle Bells”) before being booted by mall security.
- Giving lags. We’ve mentioned it before, but it’s worth giving an update – local charities are in desperate need of donations at this time of year. At the halfway point of their holiday campaign to provide 9 million meals by the end of the year, Second Harvest Food Bank only has enough food to provide 1 million meals. Nashville’s branch of the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program has 17,000 children enrolled and at latest update, only 5,800 have been adopted.
- Bits & pieces. OnStar saved a Goodlettsville man’s life after he crashed his car in a low-visibility area … Hillsboro High teacher Brad Brown will compete on Jeopardy … Wanna be a Rockette? Auditions are in Nashville December 4 … BNA got a gold star from some travelers this holiday weekend … Tim McGraw & Curb Records will go to court on Tuesday … Business at Christmas tree farms is on the rise this year.
Photo by jagosaurus.
Good morning, Nashville. You may have noticed that the temperature has dropped just slightly from the balmy 65-degree Thanksgiving we enjoyed just a few days ago. In fact, if you’re in or around Waverly or Centerville, you may have even spotted some snow this morning. The chilly rain is just going to keep coming, and [...]
Bright & Early: Drip Drop Edition
Good morning, Nashville. We’re short on time today (yep, it’s definitely Monday), so here’s a quick roundup of the morning’s headlines.
- GM will bring production of the Chevy Equinox to Spring Hill next year, which means 594 new hourly jobs and 91 new salaried positions at the plant. [Tennessean]
- Michigan Speaker of the House Jase Bolger is trying to poach Jack Daniel’s from Tennessee, in response to the proposed $10/barrel tax in Moore County. Mr. Bolger’s effort to woo JD’s included dried blueberries, local chocolates, caramel corn and state maps. [WKRN]
- New US citizens in Tennessee this year could top last year’s record number of 2,600. So far in 2011, 2,458 new citizens have been sworn in. [WPLN]
- Taylor Swift took home artist of the year at the American Music Awards for the second time in her career. [Tennessean]
- Another sad football Sunday for Titans fans this week. The Atlanta Falcons took home the 23-17 win. [WKRN]
- The Salvation Army’s Angel Tree program saw a small boost over the weekend, but there are still 13,000 unclaimed names. [WTVF]
- East Nashville’s new doggie daycare, The Dog Spot, is still caught up in a battle with Metro for their use & occupancy permit. In the meantime, they’ve decided to open anyway, which means that the owner could wind up in jail. [WSMV]
- Last week’s $2 screenings at the freshly reopened Regal Cinemas at Opry Mills added up to big paychecks for local nonprofits. over $56,000 was collected for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the Nashville Film Festival and Second Harvest Food Bank. [WKRN]
- UFC will return to the Bridgestone Arena in January after a three year hiatus from Nashville. [City Paper]
- Expect more rain through tomorrow! [Nashville WX]
Photo by Josh Beasley.
Good morning, Nashville. We’re short on time today (yep, it’s definitely Monday), so here’s a quick roundup of the morning’s headlines. GM will bring production of the Chevy Equinox to Spring Hill next year, which means 594 new hourly jobs and 91 new salaried positions at the plant. [Tennessean] Michigan Speaker of the House Jase [...]
Bright & Early: Angels Edition
Good morning, Nashville. On the heels of this week’s news that Second Harvest Food Bank donations are down 30% comes the word that only 950 of Nashville’s 17,000 Angel Tree requests have been filled so far this year. Don’t forget that many folks are in need this holiday season! You can adopt an Angel Tree kid at Rivergate Mall, The Mall at Green Hills, Cool Springs Galleria or Hickory Hollow, and gifts are due back to the adoption location by December 3.
- Twinkle, twinkle. The lights are on at the Opryland Hotel! The two-million-plus light display is one of our favorite things about the holiday season in Nashville.
- Keep on keeping on. A federal judge has barred the state from enforcing a curfew in Legislative Plaza, which means that Occupy Nashville can remain in Legislative Plaza indefinitely. That is, when they are not busy being kicked out of Donald Rumsfeld’s fundraiser.
- Say it ain’t so. A Craigslist ad looking for “housewives and socialites” in Nashville for a major tv network has the internets all buzzy. Real Housewives of Music City, anyone? Someone should warn the producers about Green Hills traffic.
- Bits & pieces. Tennessee ranks third in antibiotic use … Sam’s Sports Bar & Grill will drop the “Bar” at its new locations in Murfreesboro and Hendersonville, hoping to attract more families … NWS predicts a slightly warmer, yet wetter winter in Tennessee this year (that means ice) … The United Way held a community baby shower yesterday that collected supplies for more than 1,000 babies in Nashville … David Lipscomb Campus School received a $10 million gift, the largest in the school’s history … Unemployment in Tennessee dropped slightly to 9.6% in October.
Photo by fallingwater123.
Good morning, Nashville. On the heels of this week’s news that Second Harvest Food Bank donations are down 30% comes the word that only 950 of Nashville’s 17,000 Angel Tree requests have been filled so far this year. Don’t forget that many folks are in need this holiday season! You can adopt an Angel Tree [...]
Bright & Early: Deep Breathing Edition
Good morning, Nashville. 122 homeowners who were flooded out in May of last year will finally get the Metro buyouts they’ve been waiting for. FEMA froze long-term disaster relief funds after Hurricane Irene, but $30.4 million has been freed and will assist Metro in buying the flooded houses and converting them to open green space.
- Happy November 17! Welcome to the holiday travel season, which starts today and promises to make your life (at least if you plan on spending time in an airport) miserable for the next six weeks. Arrive early for your flights, etc. BNA unveiled a shiny new rental car facility yesterday, freeing up 600 parking lots and increasing their rental car capacity to 2,400.
- Teach what? Williamson County has introduced some new restrictions on student teachers, limiting them to classes that don’t have TCAP or other high-stakes tests at the end of the year.
- Yep, still there. The latest on the Occupy Nashville front: Yesterday saw protesters temporarily relocating to Tennessee Homeland Security’s front yard. Today they will march to protest Donald Rumsfeld’s book signing at the downtown Hilton.
- Bits & pieces. An inmate who walked off a job site yesterday is back in custody … The first Megabus trip from Nashville to Atlanta has departed (and arrived, in case you were concerned) … Country music is heading to the White House on Monday … We shouldn’t have to remind you, but do not throw hams at your mother … It’s going to get pretty chilly tonight, so bundle up … Snow along the KY/TN border? … Flooding on I-65 near Hwy 96 snarled up rush hour traffic yesterday morning … Canadian billionaire W. Brett Wilson has purchased 5% of the Preds.
Photo by Vic James Photography.
Good morning, Nashville. 122 homeowners who were flooded out in May of last year will finally get the Metro buyouts they’ve been waiting for. FEMA froze long-term disaster relief funds after Hurricane Irene, but $30.4 million has been freed and will assist Metro in buying the flooded houses and converting them to open green space. [...]
Bright & Early: Drizzly Edition
Good morning, Nashville. We’re short on time today, so here’s a quick tour of the morning’s headlines:
- Nashville’s oldest restaurant – Varallo’s Chili Parlor & Restaurant – turned a ripe old 104 yesterday. [WKRN]
- Advance bookings for the new Music City Center have surpassed 500,000 hotel nights, with 55 conventions booked in the coming years. The new convention center is scheduled to be completed in 2013. [WTVF]
- Do some pantry cleaning, folks. Second Harvest says donations are down 30% and they are far behind where they hoped to be in providing 9 million meals by the end of the year. Visit secondharvestmidtn.org for info about how and what to donate. [WKRN]
- Longtime director of the Nashville Symphony, Dr. George Mabry, has announced his retirement at the end of the year. The symphony will conduct (heh heh) a nationwide search for his successor. [WTVF]
- Three cheers for the Preds, who toppled the Capitals last night 3-1. An impressive 39 saves from Pekka Rinne aided the effort. [WKRN]
- Cheekwood is looking to bring in some massive money with a strategic plan to increase their endowment fund by $27 million. Also under consideration – Putting some property up for sale and adjusting admission rates. [Tennessean]
- Capitol Hill is bracing for significant state budget cuts, awaiting the vote from a federal supercommittee on November 23. [WTVF]
- More than 60 Nashville taxi drivers want to start Volunteer Taxi, a new cab company that would keep operating costs low for drivers. Naturally, existing cab companies were none too pleased about the proposal. A decision has been deferred until December. [Tennessean]
- Tough loss yesterday afternoon for the Belmont men’s basketball team, who lost to Memphis 97-81 after a hard fight. [City Paper]
- Several City Council members have requested an audit of NES spending, after a NewsChannel 5 investigation found a lot of fancy wining and dining going on, all while increasing costs to ratepayers. [WTVF]
Photo by Eva Marie.
Good morning, Nashville. We’re short on time today, so here’s a quick tour of the morning’s headlines: Nashville’s oldest restaurant – Varallo’s Chili Parlor & Restaurant – turned a ripe old 104 yesterday. [WKRN] Advance bookings for the new Music City Center have surpassed 500,000 hotel nights, with 55 conventions booked in the coming years. [...]
Regal Reopening: A Good Reason To Play Hooky Today
The Regal Cinemas at Opry Mills has reopened over a year and a half after being flooded in May 2010, and they’re throwing a pretty sweet reopening party this week. Of course we’d never recommend that our readers skip out on work, but if, you know, you just happen to get sick or something, we know just the ticket to recovery – $2 movies!
Both today and tomorrow (and yesterday, but let’s not dwell on our failure to inform you), head out to Opry Mills to catch $2 flicks while stuffing your skull with $2 popcorn and soda. It’s for a good cause! Each day of the week benefits a local nonprofit, so round up your friends (after work, if you must) and take a big crowd. Special selections each day join a lineup of the past year’s blockbusters, so you can catch up on what you missed while the theater was closed.
Today’s special “Red Carpet” selections benefit our friends at the Nashville Film Festival, and include a few films we had the pleasure of seeing at this year’s fest:
- The Artist [PG-13] – 7:15, 10:10
- My Week With Marilyn [R] – 7:00, 9:50
- Weekend [NR] – 1:05, 4:20, 7:05, 9:30
- The First Grader [PG-13] – 12:55, 4:25, 7:20, 10:25
Tomorrow’s special selections will get you in the holiday spirit and benefit Second Harvest Food Bank:
- Fred Claus [PG] – 12:40, 4:10, 7:15, 10:10
- How The Grinch Stole Christmas [PG] – 1:00, 4:15, 7:00, 9:50
- Four Christmases [PG-13] – 1:05, 4:20, 7:05, 9:30
- Disney’s A Christmas Carol [PG] – 12:55, 4:25, 7:20, 10:25
If none of these tickle your fancy, all of the following films are showing through Wednesday the 16th (times here) and also benefit the nonprofits above:
Soul Surfer, Zookeeper, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Super 8, Green Lantern, Fast Five, Bridesmaids, X-Men: First Class, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Captain America, Cars 2, Thor, The Hangover 2, Crazy Stupid Love, Cowboys & Aliens, Transformers: Dark of the Moon 3D, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (IMAX 3D)
Welcome back, IMAX. We’ve missed you.
Photo by morganlevy.
The Regal Cinemas at Opry Mills has reopened over a year and a half after being flooded in May 2010, and they’re throwing a pretty sweet reopening party this week. Of course we’d never recommend that our readers skip out on work, but if, you know, you just happen to get sick or something, we [...]
Bright & Early: Waiting, Waiting, Waiting Edition
Good morning, Nashville. Food truck owners who are eager to arrive at an agreement with Metro will have to wait a bit longer… again. Metro Traffic & Parking Commission has now deferred making a decision on regulations indefinitely, after a few months of “come back next month.” The commission will instead work with other Metro agencies to draft a set of regulations to present to Metro Council, and food truck owners will keep serving us their tasty food in the meantime.
- Dropped. All charges against Occupy Nashville protestors arrested at the end of October have officially been dropped and will be expunged from their records. Protestors are planning to stay in Legislative Plaza, and are currently making plans to winterize the encampment.
- You don’t say? From the department of Things We Didn’t Need An Investigation To Tell You, a lot of Nashville’s cabbies are bad at driving! A News 2 investigation has discovered that many cab drivers have been allowed to go to traffic school multiple times in order to stay on the streets.
- No 800 numbers for this guy. Upset over the inferior preparation of his pizza, a 28-year-old man threw a homemade explosive through the window of Sicilian Pizza on Church Street. Employees were able to detain him until police arrived.
- Bits & pieces. More than 5,000 people ran the Mayor’s Challenge 5k downtown this weekend … Please don’t feed the bears … Say goodbye to the last TCBY in Middle Tennessee … Japanese restaurant Goten is being sold after 25 years in Nashville … Rain, rain, rain on the radar … A fuel spill closed I-40E for about three hours early this morning near Charlotte Pike … a Philly-to-Dallas American Airlines flight safely made an emergency stop in Nashville yesterday .. TVA fuel costs will rise about 2.8% in December.
Photo by Paul Beavers.
Good morning, Nashville. Food truck owners who are eager to arrive at an agreement with Metro will have to wait a bit longer… again. Metro Traffic & Parking Commission has now deferred making a decision on regulations indefinitely, after a few months of “come back next month.” The commission will instead work with other Metro [...]
Bright & Early: Holler Edition
Good morning, Nashville. Mayor Dean has proposed the purchase of the old Hickory Hollow JCPenney building for $3.25 million. The location would be turned into an expanded library, a new community center and 2.6 acres of “green space.” The proposal will go before Metro Council on November 15. In other news:
- Foggy. More than 50 people still have court dates set after the October 28-29 arrests of Occupy Nashville protestors. The cases are being reviewed by the District Attorney’s office, but whether they will be dismissed or not remains to be seen.
- Light it up. In other “Occupy” news, the protestors turned on Nashville Electric Services this past Friday, decrying the fancy hotels, meals and entertainment expenses made by top-level staff that were uncovered in a recent NewsChannel 5 investigation. NES president Decosta Jenkins paid a visit to Occupy Nashville several hours prior to the march to assure them that he is in the process of repaying any inappropriate expenses, but the march continued.
- Womp womp. A nice 10-point halftime lead crumbled under the Titans as they ended up losing yesterday’s hometown match against the Bengals. The loss chalks up the fourth of the season for the Titans, rendering them an even 4-4.
- Bits & pieces. West End was closed for an hour on Saturday due to a “suspicious package,” which turned out to be a fake bomb used by Caterpillar to run bomb exercises … Saturday’s auction of 23 Fifth & Main units was a “downer” for owners, who expected to get more than 67% of their asking price … The Preds took home a 4-3 win this weekend against the Sharks … Magnet school applications begin today for Metro students for the 2012-13 school year … A job fair is being held today from 11am-2pm at the Holiday Inn on Elm Hill Pike (various employers) … Nashville Sports Authority will vote on the $25 million LP Field improvement proposal today.
Photo by Peppysis.
Good morning, Nashville. Mayor Dean has proposed the purchase of the old Hickory Hollow JCPenney building for $3.25 million. The location would be turned into an expanded library, a new community center and 2.6 acres of “green space.” The proposal will go before Metro Council on November 15. In other news: Foggy. More than 50 people [...]
Bright & Early: Pink Elephant Edition
Good morning, Nashville. We’re tight on time, so here’s your roundup of this morning’s headlines (with a little bit from earlier this week thrown in).
- More Yazoo! Yazoo will now be available on tap at the Bridgestone Arena, and no longer just on the first floor and in club level. [Post Business]
- Keep an eye out for the “Bad Hair Bandit,” who has robbed six banks in Kentucky and Tennessee wearing a variety of women’s wigs. [Tennessean]
- Occupy Nashville protesters will hand deliver a letter to the Governor’s office this morning, asking if they can “start anew” and stating their intentions to remain in Legislative Plaza for the long haul. [WTVF]
- Occupy Nashville isn’t the only group protesting in Legislative Plaza. A Murfreesboro man is asking folks to “Occupy the Altar” and pray for the economic crisis. Vanderbilt University College Republicans are also planning to stage a counter-protest tonight at 7:15pm. [Tennessean, WTVF]
- About 4,000 people showed up to interview for one of the 1,100 jobs available at Nissan’s Smyrna plant at yesterday’s job fair. Interviewers stayed until the last person was interviewed, wrapping up at 7:30pm (the fair was supposed to run from 9am-2pm). [WTVF]
- Sixteen homes in Hermitage have never had access to Metro Water, despite being located in Davidson County. The neighborhood relies on well water which has been found to be contaminated with E Coli and Coliform, and now they’re asking for a water main to be installed. [WTVF]
- Construction on the Music City Center has hit the halfway mark. [WKRN]
Photo by Sarah Duffel.
Good morning, Nashville. We’re tight on time, so here’s your roundup of this morning’s headlines (with a little bit from earlier this week thrown in). More Yazoo! Yazoo will now be available on tap at the Bridgestone Arena, and no longer just on the first floor and in club level. [Post Business] Keep an eye [...]
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